


A thousand in a crowd and I'd still pick you

by cryingoverfiction



Series: My love for you will transcend space and time [3]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Bad Pick-Up Lines, Death, Happy Ending, Homesick Lance (Voltron), Insecurity, Langst, M/M, angst with fluff, jj can't tag, klance, klangst, very minimal fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-17
Updated: 2017-10-17
Packaged: 2019-01-18 15:43:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,355
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12391164
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cryingoverfiction/pseuds/cryingoverfiction
Summary: Lotor has been Team Voltron for a phoeb and has taken an instant liking to Keith.Lance isn't happy about it.





	A thousand in a crowd and I'd still pick you

**Author's Note:**

> yo guess who's back? Still got an overdue assignment but hey, Klance.  
> I saw this on a post made by tumblr user lanceville, apparently there's a rumour that Lotor takes a liking to Keith in his time at the castle and he doesn't get along with Lance.  
> I don't know how true this is, but my Klangst heart went on with it.   
> This is so not how I planned the story to go but here it is.

Lance was in the training arena, practicing his hand to hand combat. He’d noticed he’d been slacking in the hand to hand combat, with Matt and Lotor joining the team and he knew he needed to catch up.

He’d lost time of how long he’d been there, but with the amount of sweat dripping from his forehead and down his face, he was going to say a few hours at least.

He realised he’d spent too long thinking about how much time he had spent at the arena, and only just became aware when the gladiator’s hand was inches from his face. Lance sides stepped but went too fast. Tripping on his own feet, he fell to the ground, head meeting the cold hard surface of the floor with a whack. He groaned and his vision started blurring.

He saw the gladiator coming for him and tried to react but realised he’d become slow and sluggish, so he braced himself for impact.

“End training sequence!” A voice shouted. He inwardly groaned.

Keith ran over to him and grabbed Lance’s shoulder, hoisting him up from the floor. Once Lance was on his feet he shrugged Keith’s hands off him.

“Get off me” he grumbled. He tried to ignore the pain that flickered in his eyes. Keith quickly went on the defence.

“It’s not my fault you’re so pathetic you can’t defeat a damned robot” he spat. Lance stayed quiet, not wanting to fight with his boyfriend.

Keith cleared his throat. “I’m sorry, this is still new to me. Are you alright?” he asked.

“yeah. Just tired”

“tired? Even I would be exhausted if I went up against that thing for four hours”

Was that how long he’d been going? No wonder he got knocked to his ass.

“I’m going to go shower” was all he said and started to leave.

“Am I coming over tonight?”

Lance stopped for a tick. At this moment he wanted nothing more to be in his boyfriend’s arms, falling asleep to the rhythm of his beating heart. He shut his eyes and took a deep breath. Without even turning around he replied.

“No. I want to be alone tonight”

And without waiting for a response he walked away.

* * *

The following morning came around and Lance hadn’t had a wink of sleep. He was so worked up about how he treated Keith the night before. It wasn’t like he was angry at his boyfriend, not at all. He was angry that man who kept talking to his boyfriend.

From the moment Lotor found out that Keith was part Galra, he was infatuated with him. They hadn’t planned on telling him, given that Lotor seemed to have a bit of an obsession for Galra Hybrids, but Hunk had accidentally let it slip.

Lance tried to be happy for Keith, he was finally learning a bit more about his heritage, and he wasn’t totally alone anymore, but Lance didn’t trust Lotor, not for a second. He sat up and stretched, before heading to the kitchen.

The sounds of sparring made their way from the training deck. Lance paid no thought to it until voices accompanied them.

“Where did you learn that?” Lotor asked. Lance rolled his eyes and started to walk away.

“I- uh, I don’t think I did. It was instinct” When Keith’s voice followed, Lance froze.

Great. They were spending mornings together too. Lance decided to stay and eavesdrop.

“That was a Galra move, Keith. Quite sloppy though, but we can work on your technique” Lotor critiqued. Lance felt his blood pressure rise. Only _he_ was allowed to pick on Keith like that.

“I know,” Keith sighed “there’s just a lot on my mind” he continued.

Lance wanted to scream. Now he was sharing his deep dark thoughts with Lotor? What happened to the Keith with walls?

“Something is up with Lance” he said it so quietly that it took Lance a moment to figure out what he had said, but when he did all the spite he was holding onto disappeared. This was all because of him?

“I don’t know maybe I let him in too soon, or maybe I said or did something? I don’t know I can just tell he’s done with me” He sighed again.

Lance wanted to run in and hug him, or kiss him, anything to reassure the older boy that he was anything but done with him.

“Lance?” came a very quiet voice. He jumped and turned around, Shiro right behind him.

“ _Mierda_! Shiro! You can’t sneak up on people like that” he whispered. Shiro ignored him.

“Why are you spying on Keith and Lotor?”

Lance’s eyes went wide. They hadn’t told the team that they were together yet, and he didn’t have a good excuse as to why he was eavesdropping.

“well, I uh- You see- I was- “

“Lance, we all trust Lotor. You’re the only one who doesn’t. Grow up, this isn’t the garrison anymore” and with that, Shiro walked away. Lance sighed and continued to the kitchen. On his way past the training deck he noticed Lotor and Keith sparring again, as if nothing happened.

* * *

That night, Lance found himself waiting on Keith’s bed. He hadn’t planned what he was going to say, he was just going to reassure him that he loved him, but the former paladin had other plans.

Keith froze for a moment when he saw Lance on his bed, but seemed to recover quickly. He shut his eyes and took a deep breath before diving in.

“Good you’re here” he started. Lance opened his mouth but Keith silenced him.

“This is over. I’ve done some thinking and we only got together because the both of us almost died. I’m over that now.” He said curtly. Lance sucked in a harsh breath. He knew Keith was only saying these things because he was hurt and this was how he reacted to being hurt.

“Keith- “.

“Lance, I don’t want to waste my time on a seventh wheel”

Lance felt like he’d punched in the gut. All the air left his body. He was stunned. He knew Keith didn’t want to say it. He could see the pain in his eyes, the way his lips were pressed into a tight line, but it was still a low blow.

“Fuck you” he retorted, and stood up, heading to leave the room.

“Lance!” panic was thick in Keith’s voice. Lance stopped and turned.

“I came here to tell you that you had nothing to worry about. That I wasn’t done with you. But now? Goodbye Keith” he left and the door closed behind him, leaving him in silence to be alone with his thoughts. The last thing he wanted right now.

* * *

A few weeks went by and Keith and Lance weren’t speaking. Lance left the room whenever he entered, he couldn’t deal with Lotor, and no one could deal with his disdain for the Galra man. Lotor spent more and more time with Keith, while Shiro, Allura and Coran spent all their time on the Voltron coalition. Pidge and Matt spent every moment possible together, with Hunk trailing behind them. Lance had become the _ninth_ wheel.

If he wasn’t training, he was sleeping, and it was beginning to show. He was just about to enter the training deck when Allura pulled him up.

“Lance, Shiro and I are quite worried about you.” She started.

“Princess, I’m fine. You’re the one they should all be worried about, you’re missing out on all this lovin’” he tried to joke, but Allura saw right through him.

“Are you eating properly? You’re looking deathly ill.” She commented.

She was right. He had dropped a few pounds he definitely couldn’t afford to lose, and his skin had lightened several shades. His mother would whack him on the back of the head and force feed him if she saw him now.

He felt a pang in his heart. Mom. _Mama_. He hadn’t thought about her in so long.

“Lance?”

“I’m great Princess, really. I’ll go catch up on some sleep though” He said quickly and retreated to his room.

Even though he hadn’t planned on following through with what he said to Allura, once he got pack to his room he flopped down onto his bed, and darkness overcame him.

* * *

_The rebels fired and fired at the Galra fleet, but it was no use, their shields wouldn’t give up. Matt had appeared on the comm screen._

_“We’ll never get through the shield” he said._

_Keith furrows his eyebrows and thinks for a moment before sighing._

_“Not with our weapons” he mutters._

_Lance snaps his attention to him._

_“Keith” he warns. But Keith doesn’t listen._

_Keith breaks away from the rebels and prepares to fly straight into the laser._

_“Keith!” Lance is screaming at him now, but he still doesn’t listen._

_He keeps screaming, he’s throwing, trying to take control of the ship, anything that will stop him._

_Suddenly he’s not with Keith. He’s alone, in Red. They made it out of the solar system, but only to see Keith collide with the shield around the Galra ship. The shield faltered for a moment, and then returned to normal._

_Keith had died for nothing_

**_Keith had died._ **

 

Lance woke screaming. The name Keith on the tip of his lips, unspoken. He was screaming, and crying and thanking every god that his room was so far from the others.

There was movement next to him in the bed.

“Hey” Keith mumbles.

“There’s nothing to be screaming about, everything’s okay” the thick British voice says.

British?

Lance turns to look beside him and see’s Lotor’s purple hands strangling Keith’s lifeless body.

* * *

Lance woke with a jolt, and headbutted someone above him. When he saw white hair, he thought it was Allura, but then realised the hand gripping his shoulder was purple.

He yanked himself out of Lotor’s grasp and backed into the corner of his bunk.

“What the hell are you doing in here?” he yelled

“I heard screaming, I came to check if everything was alright” He said, backing away from Lance.

“Sure, you were probably here to kill me” Lance spat. Lotor sighed.

“My boy, have you heard the saying ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend’?” he asked

“uh-huh. And we’re your father’s enemy” Lance answered.

“Just as I am my father’s enemy”

“Bullshit. Get out” he yelled.

“Lance!” a new voice yelled. Both Lance and Lotor looked over and saw Shiro in the doorway, with Keith behind him.

“Lotor is a member of our team now, it’s time you get over this petty little act and face it” Shiro spat, angered.

“I do agree Lance. Hating me because you’re jealous of the bond I share with your pretty little ex is rather childish” Lotor taunted.

Lance turned his attention to Keith

“you told him?” Keith started to respond but Lance spoke again.

“I wasn’t allowed to tell _my best friend_ , but you told the man who tried to kill us?” he seethed

Lance looked away and took a deep breath and chuckled to himself. He grabbed his Bayard and stood up, walking directly to Keith. He pressed the Bayard to Keith’s chest.

“You can have her back. I’m done” he said through gritted teeth and walked away.

“Lance!” Keith and Shiro called out to him, but he ignored them, and made a beeline for the hangar.

In time it took for Lance to get to the hangar and ready a pod, Shiro must have told Allura because the castle was on lockdown. He groaned and leaned against the pod for about 15 doboshes, waiting for his lecture, but it never came. Instead Keith greeted him in the hangar.

After the dream he had, he wanted nothing more than to greet the other man, hug him and kiss him and tell him he loved him, but his pride wouldn’t let him.

“Lance, I’m- I’m so sorry” He said, tears slipping down his cheeks.

Keith? Crying? He was still dreaming.

“I never meant what I said about the seventh wheel thing, it’s just I had worked myself up so much that I thought you didn’t love me anymore and I needed to take you out of the equation before you did it yourself” He snivelled.

“I was never- “Keith put up a finger to silence him.

“I’m sorry I didn’t catch on to you not trusting Lotor, and I’m sorry that I told him but Lance, you have no idea what it’s like. I’m Galra, and I don’t understand how. He’s been helping me understand myself” He finished. Lance blinked and paused for a moment.

“Can I speak now?” he asked and Keith glared at him.

“I was never going to ‘take you out of the equation’. The equation is solved. You’re it.” He said softly, and Keith smiled, inching a little bit closer.

“I’m sorry I didn’t take your feelings into consideration. As you said, you’re part Galra, but I know he is obsessed with Galra hybrids and I didn’t want you to be that next obsession. I’m sorry I haven’t been a good boyfriend lately”

“I’m sorry _I_ haven’t been a good boyfriend lately. And that’s probably not the last time I’ll make that apology, provided you want me to be your boyfriend again?”

Lance stood up and walked over to Keith, pressing their lips together. It was short, and sweet and exactly how it needed to be.

“Of course, I do.” He laughed. Keith grinned and hugged him. They stayed like for a moment before Keith spoke again.

“Hey Lance?”

“mmm”

“Do you have any Galra in you?” Keith asked sheepishly and Lance pulled away confused.

“What”

“Would you like to?”

Lance almost had a heart attack. Cheesy pickup lines? By his awkward anti-social boyfriend? God, he was so in love. In response, he dropped to one knee.

“marry me?”

The look on Keith’s face dropped

“You had to ruin it, didn’t you?” he groaned and turned to leave, but couldn’t hide the snigger coming from his mouth.

In that moment, Lance knew they’d be okay.


End file.
